Thursday, January 12, 2017

Black Lives Matter. Do they? Please, BLM, tell me what
matters. If a black man named Markeith D. Loyd spends four years in prison for
battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence and
then posts on Facebook that his goal is to be on the Most Wanted list, does
that matter?

If that man goes to the home of his ex-girlfriend and,
when she opens the door, he shoots her dead, does that matter? How about if she
is pregnant, and the baby dies too? And how about if her brother tries to help
her, and Loyd shoots him. Does that matter? And if the girlfriend a month
earlier was with Loyd during a traffic stop and told him as the police officer
approached, “Go ahead and kill him, babe, so we can get home faster,” does that
matter?

What if a black girl grows up poor in Orlando but
graduates from high school and college and earns a master’s degree? And what if
that girl becomes an Orlando police officer, Master Sgt. Debra Clayton, and has
an outstanding 17-year career, working to improve relations between black
people and the police? What if she works closely with a city commissioner who
is also black and female to decrease violence between black people in the city?
What if she mentors kids and helps them get through school? And what if she is
on duty outside a Walmart in Orlando, spots Loyd, knowing he is wanted for
murder, and tells him to stop? And what if he shoots her dead and runs? Does
that matter? How about her husband and son and father and brother, whose lives are ripped apart. Do they matter?

How about the neighborhood that is shut down for
hours, and the school kids on 18 campuses who are locked in because of the
danger? And what if the manhunt includes a sheriff’s deputy on a motorcycle who
is hit by a van and killed? He’s black too. Does that matter?

Which lives do you like as role models, BLM? Which
ones would you rather have next door? Whose life makes the city a better place?
Whose life spreads degradation and terror and death? Who brings victory, encouragement,
love? People around here have contributed to a reward of $100,000 to catch the
killer. Would you? You tell me, BLM. Does it matter? Does any of it matter?

Followers

About Me

Asked at a writer's conference to tell what my gift (assuming I had one) as a writer might look like, I said "a magnifying glass." I look at the details of just about everything and try to get a grip on the world that way. It makes me a good editor, a fairly interesting person to talk to, and sometimes a pain in the neck. Born in Montana to parents from New York City, I grew up in Florida, went to college in Boston. Having worked as a newspaper reporter, gotten married and had four babies, and done some freelance writing and editing, I keep on trying to get to the bottom of things.